


Protection

by aohatsu



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25094572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aohatsu/pseuds/aohatsu
Summary: The Mandalorian protects the child.
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 39
Collections: Multifandom Drabble 2020





	1. Fight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lionessvalenti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/gifts).



He’s slammed against the metal plating of the cargo ship, grunting into his helmet as he’s held there. There’s a ringing in his ears as he reaches blindly behind him for a shard of ripped metal he’d seen before, grabbing it with one slippery hand where his glove and armor had been ripped off by the nine-armed Astolovarian trying to kill him.

He jerks the shard forward and into the Astolovarian’s stomach. It collapses with a whine, and he gingerly steps over it, his body shaking from the post-fight adrenaline. He grabs his glove off the dusty ground and pulls it back on.

The child—his child, now, according to the laws of the Mandalorian culture—is hiding behind a pile of Yilnaāti fabrics, woods and metals, his ears large and green, and poking out over the side, revealing his hiding place easily.

He sighs, watching the child as he peeks his face around the unloaded cargo with wide, curious eyes.

“I said to hide,” he reminds him, but the chastisement is ignored as the child realizes the danger has, for the moment, passed, and decides to come out of his hiding place.

He wobbles out, the invaluable holo-chip half of the galaxy seems to be after still clutched in his small hand. The child holds it up and out to his him, and he takes it before lifting the child up in his arms as well. They need to leave quickly, before another Astolovarian shows up looking for the holo-chip. He needs to get it to a code breaker and find out what the encoding means.

“Here,” he adds, handing the holo-chip back to the child. “Keep holding onto it.”

The child reaches up to touch his helmet.

“I’m fine,” he says.

He is alive.

The child is safe.


	2. Gone

He blows the door off its hinges and slams his way through.

He’d left the child alone for half-an-hour on their ship, trading for food while the child slept. He’d returned to find the ship broken into, materials, parts and weapons all missing, and the child gone.

It’s been six hours since then.

He kicks the startled woman who aims a blaster at him in the stomach, forcing her back. He punches another man in the face, and blasts another three in quick succession.

The child reaches for him, an unhappy tilt to his mouth where he’s sitting in a corner with his hands roughly tied together. One of his ears is bent awkwardly and torn, a trickle of green blood on dripping down and onto his mud-splattered robe.

He quickly picks the child up, curling one hand protectively around his small body while keeping his blaster up in the other in case anyone else comes into the room looking for trouble.

The child makes a nose against his chest, a distressed whine.

When he deems it safe enough, he puts his blaster away and takes a closer look at the child’s ear. He sighs in relief.

“You’ll be alright.”


	3. Sleep

He wakes suddenly at the feeling of the pallet shifting. He relaxes as he sees only the child, struggling to climb over the edge, clinging to the rough-spun sheets with small fingers.

“Having a hard time sleeping?” he asks, and it’s nearly a surprise to hear his voice so clear. It’s still an odd sensation to not wear his helmet where another can see him, can hear him.

He reaches down to help the child, allowing him to curl up next to him under the blanket. The soft breathing of the comfortable and warm child eases him back into sleep.


End file.
